


Refracted

by paenteom



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 03:04:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2835662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paenteom/pseuds/paenteom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann is anxious, awkward and overworked. Mako is small, smart and growing up way too early. She thinks Stacker Pentecost is the bee's knees. Hermann has to agree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Refracted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [geniusbee](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=geniusbee).



> (this fic has a small mention of trauma suffered as a consequence of a kaiju attack. it's tiny, but i thought i should mention it anyway.)
> 
> whelp! this is my contribution to [the pacrim secret santa 2014](http://pacrimsecretsanta.tumblr.com), which is a super lovely idea and i'm really glad i was able to be a part of it.
> 
> my giftee [geniusbee](http://geniusbee.tumblr.com) asked for mako & hermann friendship which is my all-time favourite thing so i'm super excited that i finally had an excuse to write this. i really hope i was able to meet your expectations and that you like your gift!
> 
> happy holidays. c:

The light in the lab has gradually begun to fade but the room’s only inhabitant has yet to notice. 

Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, PhD, stares at the holo projector in front of him with a frown, slowly grinding leftover chalk dust between his thumb and index finger. His left hand lazily moves around the flickering image, slowly rotating the projection in a clockwise direction. 

He has been working on the newest jaeger models for the entirety of the last two months and only now does it seem as if he is getting anywhere. There's a constant stream of data on kaiju evolution from K-Exo-Bio; a lot of biological terms that really all mean the same: the kaiju are getting stronger, smarter, and faster. Their current efforts aren’t enough anymore. 

Every day his work seems less like research and more like struggling against quicksand.

The squeak of soles on the tile floor interrupts Hermann's thought process. His gaze strays from his projection to find the source of the noise peeking around the corner in a mop of straight black hair.

“Miss Mori,” Hermann says. His hands nervously flutter towards his lap. Mako takes a few uncertain steps into the laboratory and comes to a stop next to his assistant’s desk. She bows quickly towards him and he lowers his head in return. 

Hermann’s hands grip the fabric of his sweater. He hasn’t exchanged many words with Marshall Pentecost’s daughter since she arrived at the Shatterdome two years ago. It isn't because he doesn’t like her. Mako is a smart and polite child and everyone agrees that she is meant for great things, including Hermann. He just feels insecure around children in general. 

Adults usually just ignore his brusque nature. Children are different. He doesn’t want to leave Mako with the impression that she is disturbing him. 

The few times they've interacted he had enjoyed it a great deal. It makes him happy that someone her age is as interested in engineering as she is. Pentecost confided to him that she wanted to spend some time apprenticing in his department after she was done with school and Hermann looks forward to that a great deal.

He sends her a shaky smile. 

“Is there a particular reason for your visit, Miss Mori?”

Mako slowly approaches his desk, her eyes fixed on the still rotating model of Nova Hyperion. 

“They are running nuclear tests in LOCCENT,” she says as matter-of-factly as if she were talking about something every eight year old experiences. “The Marshall said that I’m not allowed to watch yet but everyone else is helping and I don't like being alone." 

Mako points at the projection Hermann had been working on.

"What’s that?”

Her dark eyes are wide and full of wonder.

“That’s the model for our first Mark IV jaeger,” Hermann explains. “It will be a lot stronger and faster than the jaegers that our current pilots are operating.”

“Even stronger and faster than Marshall Pentecost’s jaeger?” Mako asks. She sounds completely awed, her eyes never leaving the floating projection on Hermann’s modeling unit. 

Hermann smiles and nods at her. Mako’s obvious admiration for the Marshall is heartwarming, if unsurprising. 

Hermann knows that Pentecost had singlehandedly saved her from a kaiju attack in Tokyo after Onibaba made landfall on Japan’s shore. When he appeared in front of a terrified and lone Mako Mori after she had been chased through crumbling city streets by the kaiju he must have seemed like her personal guardian angel. 

Hermann studies her quietly while she manipulates the projection with small, sure hands.

The first few months after the attack she barely left Pentecost’s side. People got used to her constant presence; wherever the Marshall went she went as well. Hermann remembers her as a small, shy shadow, hiding behind the Marshall's legs or skipping alongside him whenever he patrolled the halls of the Shatterdome. 

Pentecost never once complained; his patience with her seemed nearly infinite. Most people reasoned that he didn’t need to, Mako was quiet, polite and well-behaved from the very beginning. 

Hermann, on the other hand, suspected the main reason was that the Marshall understood that she didn’t feel safe on her own. He glances at his cane and remembers for a split second complete, crushing darkness and a sharp, searing pain up his entire left side, the earth shattering roar of the beast way too close— 

He had been 20. Hermann didn’t even want to imagine how it must have felt for a girl as young as Mako. 

No one was surprised when the Marshall adopted her. They had already been living like family long before the papers made it official, and it was obvious that Mako saw the Marshall as a father already. Though Mako has great respect for the jaeger pilots and everyone who works in J-Tech, none of them could ever measure up to Stacker Pentecost in her mind. 

Privately, Hermann agrees. Mako isn't the only person for whom Pentecost seems like a savior figure more than a Marshall. Certainly they have many talented pilots and engineers and he himself can attest to the fact that the entirety of K-Science work day and night to ensure the jaeger program’s success. None of them ever pour as much of themselves into this operation as Stacker Pentecost, however. 

Sometimes it seems to Hermann that Pentecost personifies the jaeger program, that everything would crumble if he were not there to lead them with a steady hand through every failure and success. He does not dare voice this thought out loud, but he is sure the program would fall apart without him.

There are rumors haunting the halls of the Shatterdome that worry Hermann. 

“Constant nose bleeds and secret med bay reports,” people whisper when they think no one is listening, “Lightcap’s and Schoenfeld’s failure to shield the jaegers properly.” 

Hermann doesn’t want to contemplate what it would mean for all of them if the rumors are right. No one wants that. And no one ever brings it up around Mako. Let her grow up believing the Marshall is invincible. _Something_ in their rapidly decaying world should be. 

Something of Hermann’s current thought process must show on his face because Mako’s eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. 

“Why are you sad, Dr. Gottlieb?” she says. Her face is open and earnest and breaks his heart a little. 

“I’m sorry,” Hermann says, stumbling over his words. “There is just a lot to consider right now and I fear I—” 

He breaks off and uncertainly fishes for the cane leaning against his desk so he can lever himself upright. “I fear I am a little scatterbrained at the moment,” he finishes.

Mako suddenly looks very understanding and gives him a conspiratory nod. “You’re mad about the Wall aren’t you?” she says. Hermann can almost hear the capital W in the way she spits out the word.

“I know we aren’t supposed to talk about it, especially the people who are very angry. But a lot of people are sad because of the wall right now so I know about it. And I won’t tell, Dr. Gottlieb. You can be angry if you want to.”

Hermann’s mouth quirks up just the littlest bit at the sides before he can stop himself. He leans forward and waits until she has done the same before he starts whispering.

“If you must know, I am indeed quite cross with the wall. I’m German, you see. We know that walls don’t really solve anything in the end.”

Mako nods solemnly in agreement. 

“The Marshall says they’re taking our money away,” she says quietly. Hermann’s grin slides off his face. His knuckles are white around the handle of his cane.

“I wasn’t supposed to hear but I did. I think he’s very sad and angry too right now.”

The dark, cold ball of anxiety that has been settling slowly in his chest over the past months is expanding rapidly, a small, personal supernova. Hermann has been dreading this news for too long and to hear it from Mako Mori of all people makes it feel more terrifyingly real than he prefers. 

They’re being defunded. It’s actually happening. He clenches his jaw and stares at Mako’s blue shoes.

Suddenly her small hands land flat on the desk next to him and her skinny frame is clambering onto the cold steel top. Before Hermann has even opened his mouth to ask her what she is doing, she leans forward and plants a kiss right in the middle of his left cheek. It’s wet and uncoordinated, as childrens’ kisses tend to be. 

Hermann stares at her, perplexed. His hand comes up reflexively to wipe the spit off his face and her face splits into a wide grin.

“I’ll be a jaeger pilot soon,” she says, confident and proud and oh so young. “Then you won’t have to be afraid anymore, Dr. Gottlieb. I’ll defeat all the kaiju and we’ll be alright.”

Mako slides off the desk top as fast as she climbed onto it. She solemnly salutes him and he returns the gesture, slightly dazed. Then she takes off, the soles of her shoes squeaking loudly on the viridescent floor of the Shatterdome, announcing her departure just as they had announced her arrival.

Hermann stares after Mako until she has disappeared around the corner of the long, winding corridor that leads to LOCCENT. Some time between Mako’s desk acrobatics and her exit Hermann started smiling again. 

“We’ll be alright,” he murmurs. His cheek still feels warm and slightly wet. “Quite.”


End file.
